Kirara's Journey
by Kura-Ookami
Summary: A first attempt at fanfiction writing. Kirara's journey begins her journey largely unprepared for the horrors she will face in the lands of Westmarch, but determined to find what she is seeking.
1. Chapter 1 The Den Of Evil

Kirara's Journey

Chapter One - The Den Of Evil

It was raining. Kirara had always liked the rain. She was so used to dancing in it letting it soak her to her skin. Sometimes she even danced naked, but in those cases she made sure she wouldn't be seen as much as possible. Nature was her friend and water was a vital part of it. Water had always fascinated her. It had many shapes from the still water of the lakes to the fast running of rivers to the pitpattering of the rain. The wind carried the falling droplets of water in it's embarce cooling Kirara's body and making her shiver just a little. She remembered the times when she had danced naked and smiled. She had always felt so free, so liberated as she danced without the hindarance of clothes. She looked down at herself. She was wearing light green and yellow garments which were sticking to her wet skin. For a moment she considered stripping them off and walking naked and giggled at the thought, but she was too modest to actually do it.

It had been a long journey and Kirara decided she needed to rest somewhere. Considering her options she thought she could either set up camp around here or go on a little further until she reached the Rogue Encampment she could see in the distance. She again heard the low growls of the demons that she knew lurked around this area and decided to head to the safety of the Rogue Encampment hoping they would be hospitable to a soaking wet Sorceress in the rain. Stopping for a few moments and resting on her staff, which she used to channel her magical powers she watched the rain itself as it seemed to dance in the wind, tempting her to dance in the rain again herself. She started to try her movements slow to start with and moving more readily as she remembered how much fun it was. She soon stopped because she was so tired from all the walking she had donw already, but her dance had lifted her spirits and motivated her to walk all the way to the encampment.

The camp itself was a small wooden fort. No more than a wooden palisade, logs driven deep into the earth thier ends cut to sharp points to discourage anyone who would think of trying to climb the walls.There was no gate, but just a space a few yards wide which served as the entrance to the fort although there was another wall a few yards behind the space as high as the first forcing any invaders to go either right or left before being able to charge directly into the camp. The palisade had been built next to a river which acted as a natural barrier on one side. Even on that side were the walls built securely. It was a well built fort, a testament to the Rogue's abilities.

She wondered if her belongings was as soaked as she was and looked in her backpack, which had quite surprisingly kept them pretty much dry. She looked through them briefly to remind herself of what she had brought. A few minor healing potions just in case and all the essentials for camping mainly a small tent and a few blankets to sleep in as well as some food she could eat if she needed to. Hunting wasn't her specialty and she didn't really know which berries were poisonous and which were safe so she was glad to find the Roigue Encampment and a little worried that they might not accept her since she wasn't a Rogue. She was cautious avoiding the demon scouting parties she had encountered and making sure she camped as far from them as possible. By all accounts she had been lucky to not have been found by any of them while she was asleep.

One close call was when she was packing up the tent back into her backpack a group of fallen had come pretty close, but the foliage and trees in the forest provided enough cover for her to hide from them. Given the choice she wouldn't be fighting any of them, but she was prepared just in case they did attack. Although now her fatigue would give her a big dasadvantage, which was why she wanted to get to the encampment as soon as possible. For added protection she walked close to the riverback and watched the droplets of rain falling into the water of the river forming patterns as the circular ripples caused by the droplets overlapped each other. Shaking her head to get some of the water out of her hair she watched as some of the droplets fell into the water adding their own ripples to the everchanging pattern. 'Change.' Kirara thought, 'is beautiful.'

She remembered her sisters words. "There is so much beauty in a painting. It never changes. It's perfect!" Katalya said looking at a painting their mother had made. Their mother smiled

Kirara smiled. "The painting is beautiful, but change brings about it's own beauty. Forever changing, no two moments are the same, and each moment is as special as any other." This made Kirandor, their father smnile.

"No it isn't! A painting is beautiful because it never changes!" Katalya said angrily.

"Children," Kirandor said, "Calm down. Both a painting and the changing forms of a fire are beautiful in their own different ways."

"But a fire burns out and dies!"

"I know." Kirandor said. "A painting is beuatiful because it's permanant."

"Exactly!" Katalya said smiling.

Kirara smiled at the memory. She and Katalya were sisters, but they were so different from one another and yet Kirra was certain that they were both loved equally by their parents, although she had always been close to her father and Katalya had been closer to their mother. Looking back Kirara found she was missing Katalya even though they only ever seemed to fight when they were together. 'I guess i do love her as a sister.' she thought smiling.

It was evening when Kirara reached the Rogue encampment and the rain had stopped. She almost missed the dance of water that the rain had presented, but it had given her clothes a chance to dry off a little. She could see two female warriors each wearing leather armour which left their arms and legs uncovered simalar in fashion to leotards. They also wore long leather boots which gave their legs some protection as well. In their hands they carried long bows arrows notched and pointing at her.

"Halt!" one of them said, "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Kirara of the Zann Esu and I need somewhere to rest after my long journey."

"Very well. You may enter." the rogue said watching her warily.

Entering the encampment and aware she was being watched by the Rogue guards, Kirara looked around. A large campfire was burning in the centre and the smell of roasting meat permeated the air. Sitting by the fire were two other women in the same attire as the guards were conversing and eating some meat. Kirara decided to approach them watching the fire as she walked. Just like the rain dancing in the wind the fire seemed to have a dance of its own. Again no two moments were the same and Kirara kne what her father had meant when he compared the painting to a fire. It was beautiful, everchanging, even hypnotic if you stared into it long enough.

"Surely we cannot just allow the demons to roam our lands!" the younger woman, a girl of about 17 said.

"Even if we did attack them they outnumber us and we don't have the resources to fight a war of attrition.

"You can't honestly be suggesting that we simply wait until the demons finally overrun us!"

"We have little choice but to wait for reinforcements and to conserve our strength here. On open ground the demons have the advantage and if we attacked them it might only bring the wrath of Andariel down upon us."

The younger one was about to reply when Kirara came into their field of vision. "Hi, I'm Kirara," she said.

"Would you like some of our food?" the older one offered, while the younger one just glared at her obviously annoyed at her for interrupting her argument.

"Yes, thankyou," Kirara said reaching taking her pouch of gold coins out. "How much do you want for it?"

"Don't worry about gold." the older woman said kindly motioning for her to sit with them offering her some water and meat.

The younger woman tried to restart the conversation while Kirara was eating, but the older one silenced her with a wave of her hand. "Not in front of strangers."

"Hmmph!" the younger Rogue exclaimed crossing her arms and turning her head away to the side in annoyance.

"Perhaps i should introduce myself." the older Rogue said. "I am Paige and this is Liene."

"Are you two warriors here to defend the camp?" Kirara asked.

"Yes." Liene replied uncrossing her arms and smiling "We're Rogue warriors and this is our land. We're protecting it from the evil that has come here recently." For the first time Kirara looked closely at Liene. She had jade green eyes and they twinkled with cheekiness and her long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. "Who are you?" Liene asked looking over her features. Kirara was nicely tanned and had long black hair, which flowed around her like a river and sparkling blue eyes. In her hand she carried a staff, but she carried it like a scepter.

"I am one of the Zann Esu, travelling these parts for the experience and excitement of the unknown." she said.

"Wow!" I've never seen a sorceress before!" Liene said.

"You'll probably have to stay here in this camp for a while," Paige said, "The wilderness is too dangerous for travelers at the moment. You should talk to our leader, Akara. You'll find her over there." she said pointing to a modest tent in the southeastern area of the camp.

Kirara nodded and stood up. "Thankyou for your help." she said politely.

She decided to head to Akaras tent now and explore the camp later, but she did look around. In the northeast corner of the camp was a blacksmiths stall crudely built with the resources availiable in the wilderness. Should she need anything repaired that would be where she would go. In the northwest corner was a merchants wagon which was set up like another stall with several items layed out obviously for sale. Curiously there was a stone slab in the eastern area of the camp which seemed to have circular carvings on it a large rune set into the centre of the circle with many smaller runes set on the circles edges. As she was looking around Kirara could feel the eyes of another woman who was standing near the centre of the camp dressed in chainmail armour which mirrored the leather armour the other rogues wore in its design. She also wore think black leather boots unlike the plain brown leather that the other rogues wore. This woman, Kirara guessed, was the leader of the rogue warriors. A little afraid of this woman Kirara walked briskly towards Akara's tent.

"Hi, I'm Kirara of the Zann Esu." Kirara said as she entered Akara's tent.Akara was the oldest woman in the camp and right now with lines across her face caused by worrying she looked every say of her fifty years. It was clear even in the dim light that events had not been kind to her. The contents of the tent told their own story as Kirara looked around. Their were just two stools cut out of oak wood along with a single table which was strewn with maps and troops reports. In one corner of the tent there were a few meager magical weapons that Akara could perhaps sell and a small number of magical potion bottles containing multicoloured liquids. These too could be sold or used to aid anyone who had need of them.

"Greetings, young sorceress. It is good to see more of your kind at work in the world these dark days. In my opinion, the world needs more women to fight against the great shadow, but I am forgetting my manners." Akara said. "I am Akara, High priestess of the sisterhood of the sightless eye. I welcome you, taveler, to our camp, but I'm afraid i can offer you but poor shelter within these rickety walls. You see, our sisterhood has fallen under a strange curse. The mighty citadel from which we have guarded the gates to the east has been curropted by the demoness, Andariel. I still can't believe it, but she turned many our sister Rogues against us and drove us from our ancestoral home. Now the last defenders of the sisterhood are either dead or scattered throughout the wilderness. I implore you, stranger. Find a way to lift this terrible curse and we will pledge our loyalty to you for all time." The sadness was evident on her face as she spoke.

"I will do what i can." Kirara said determination flooding through her.

"I hate to ask this of you, but there is a place of great evil in the wilderness. Kashya's Rogue scouts have imformed me that a cave nearby is filled with shadowy creatures and horrors from beyond the grave. I fear that these creatures are massing for an attack against our encampment. If you are sincere about helping us find the dark labrinth and destroy the foul beasts. May the great eye watch over you." Akara said. "I should add that many Rogues have died in that horrible place. We cannot afford to lose any more. If you choose to go into that Den Of Evil you must do so alone."

Kirara nodded to show that she understood what she was being asked to do. "I will try to do what you ask, but for now i need rest."

Akara nodded. "Rest here for tonight. You may begin your quest tommorow."

Kirara left the tent and decided now was a good time to explore the camp. She saw that Liene and Paige were still by the campfire resting. The blacksmith caught her eye as she had flaming ornage hair and was quite robust reminding Kirara of her mother. As Kirara approached her she looked up from her forging. "Hi there, I'm Charsi, the blacksmith here in camp. It'ds good to see some strong adventurers around here. I'll be glad to help if you need to repair any items or purchase some. Don't expect too many items to be here, though. Most of my equipment is still in the Monastary so i can't craft as many items as i usually could. Do come by often though. I might have just the thing you need or want."

"Thanks, i will come here, but i am a sorceress so i need magical items more than weapons and armour."

"Then you should go to Akara, our preistess. She usually has some magical items for sale." Charsi said smiling. "I hope you can find exactly what you're looking for."

"Thanks." Kirara said smiling. "See you."

Next Kirara walked over to the merchants wagon in the northwest oif the camp where she met a man who was wearing an expensive fur coat and looked like he was pretty overweight too. She looked briefly at the items he had for sale.

"Good day to you partner!" the man said. "I'm Gheed and i can already tell that I'll be your best friend in this forsaken camp. A spare weapon, some gold, a small gem, is all i ask in exchange for the equipment you'll need on whatever quests you might undertake. Now, now, don't be shy. All my items are garenteed for life and come with a two day warranty!"

"There's nothing i want right now." Kirara said politely and turned to leave.

"You can also gamble on some of my items. Just give me a certain amount of gold and you'll be in with a chance of getting a really rare unique item!" Gheed said grinning.

"No thanks." Kirara said.

She returned to the campfire where Liene and Paige were. "Is it okay if you escort me to a tent? I have my own, but it's small and I'm a little too tired to set it up at the moment."

"Of course!" Liene said smiling and standing up. "Come this way." She led Kirara to a vacant tent. "Can you tell me what it's like to be a sorceress tommorow?"

"Okay," Kirara said smiling as she entered the tent and lay down ready to go to sleep. Her long journey had exhausted her so she didn't want to do anything else. She drew the blanket over herself for warmth and comfort and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she was sleeping soundly.

The rising sun shone brightly creating pools of sunlight scattered across the wildrerness. Most places were overshadowed by the heavy cloud cover that seemed to hang in the sky casting great shadows accross the land. The shadows and the pools of sunlight combined to create a tapestry of light and darkness that was beautiful in it's own right. A single beam of sunlight had found it's way into Kirara's tent awakening her from her slumber. She woke slowly, opening one eye then the other. Next she streched a little and sat up. She had slept deeply last night and was now ready to take on the task she had been asked to do.

She left her tent and felt the brisk morning breeze against her skin. It was cool and refreshing and helped to wake her up more fully. She surveyed the scene in the Rogue encampment and saw that the campfire was burning and several Rogues were sitting around it eating meals. Seeing this made Kirara feel hungry so she walked towards the fire.

"Good morning," one of the Rogues said.

"Good morning." Kirara replied.

"Hey, Kirara!" Liene said. "Here's some food for you."

"Thanks." Kirara said gratefully.

"You said you'd tell me what it's like being a sorceress yesterday?"

"Okay," Kirara said, "I can only tell you about my personal experiences and what my father has told me. Sorceresses seak to learn and master the elemental magics above all others. Magic can be difficult to control because you're always using spiritual energy and giving it form. Sometimes it requires intense focus so i often saw my father, who is a mage himself meditating, a practise he said gave him greater energy and ability in controlling the spiritual energy which is the focus of all magic. Spritual energy is also known as mana and all humans and perhaps all creatures have some of it."

"Wow!" Liene said.

Kirara finished her meal and stood up to leave on her quest.

"Wait. I have a favour to ask." Liene said looking a little sad "My sister was killed while she was scouting that cave. Please can you find her bow for me?" Liene said tears in her eyes. "It looks alot like my own." she said taking her bow from her back and holding it out so Kirara could see it. "Our bows were like sisters to one another just like us and it will mean so much to me if you could retrieve it for me."

Kirara studied Liene' bow before nodding. "I will try." she said.

"Thankyou, I pray that the great eye will watch over you and see your safe return to the camp."

Kirara turned and walked out into the wilderness pausing at the gate to the camp to look around. There were a number of red skinned creatures wandering around fairly close by though not close enough for the archers guarding the camp to hit them with their arrows.These creatures had black hair and carried knives which seemed like they would be short swords to the demons. Some led small dog like creatures, which sported backs full of spines like a hedgehog. Further away Kirara could see a few Zombies wandering around aimlessly. Venturing out of the camp Kirara walked cautiously careful to make as little noise as possible.so as to not be seen by the demons or the zombies.

Further beyond the zombies Kirara saw a cave entrance, which must have been the cave Akara had mentioned. Being careful as she approached the cave she searched for any cover she could use to hide behind and saw there were a few boulders around. She quietly walked to the first boulder, which was still a distance away from the zombies and moved from each one to the next getting closer to the cave. Soon she was close to the Zombies and the next boulder qould take her a little distance away from them and towards the cave. Cautiously she walked around the area where the zombies were keeping as much distance between herself and the them as she walked towards the next piece of cover.

Suddenly one of the zombies saw her and started shuffling towards her, which made Kirara tremble in fear and run the rest of the way to the cave glad that no demons or zombies were guarding it directly. She was already beginning to doubt that she could achieve the quest she had set out to do. She was facing demons and undead and she was no strong warrior excelling in melee combat. In that regard she was aware of her weakness and wished for a moment that she had had the melee ability Katalya had. 'No matter how difficult the curcumstances do not let fear get in your way.' Kirara thought quoting her father during one of their training exercises and growing more determined to prove herself to the Rogues she walked deeper into the cave.

She followed the obvious path deeper into the cave and found a clearing perhaps 20 yeards in. From the clearing three of the red skinned demons came charging at her knives at the ready. This was what Kirara had feared most. I the clearing were also a couple of Zombies and a larger red skinned demon carrying some kind of banner. Before she could react the three demons were on her swinging their blades. It was only luck that kept Kirara from getting hit as she fell backwards in fear narrowly avoiding the demons attacks. She turned and ran to the entrance of the cave where she stopped herself from running anymore. "I've gotta fight. I've gotta help the rogues," she said to herself. She turned to face the demons and swung the staff she carried at one of them hitting it squarely in the head killing it. The other two were on her in the time it had taken to swing her weapon and she barely had time to block the first attack as it came and dodge the second. Kirara knew she was lucky. She swing again killing the second demon which made the third turn and run in fear fiving her a much needed reprieve.

Now it was some distance away Kirara had the advantage as she cast a bolt of fire targeted at the little demon. The firebolt quickly met its target burning the demon horribly. The small battle had lasted only a few seconds, but it had shown Kirara the reality of what she was facing. The sound of the last demon screaming in pain had alerted the larger one and suddenly the little demon Kirara had just slain with her firebolt stood back up. "How?" thought Kirara as she stared in disbelief.

This time she attacked the demon with her staff keeping as far away from the creature as possible. A blazing glove of fire came at her from the clearing and she dove down to the ground just in time to dodge most of the blast. On the ground Kirara rolled and picked herself up facing the author oif the fire bolt tht had almost killed her the larger red skinned demon. 'A shaman?' Kirara thought. It had also raised the smaller demon earlier, she was sure. Quickly she summoned her spiritual energy again to cast another firebolt directly at the shaman. The demon was hit full on and fell back dead to the ground.

Already Kirara wished she hadn't accepted this task. She was no true warrior. The zombies had started to shamble their way towards her the rotting flesh falling away from their bony fingers as they approached. "These creatures were once been living humans," she thought. "I can't kill them!" But she knew she had to. She again cast a firebolt which hit one of the Zombies full on the chest burning it badly, but it still came towards her its undead nature meaning it would be harder to kill than the demons. She fired two more firebolts which finished it, but the second zombie was almost on her now. She had time to cast one more firebolt then the zombie attacled her with its skeletal fingers trying to scratch her Kirara having barely enough time to block the attack with her staff turning the zombies fist up and away from her body. She struck the zombie as hard as she could with her staff knocking it down. "Is it dead?" she thought. Fortunutly the zomvie didn't move again and Kirara breathed a sigh of relief.

She had been lucky. Too lucky. Again her thoughts turned to her desire to just get out of here, to help the rogues in other ways but another part of her was focused, determined. "I'll take as many of these things with me as i can." "No i dont want to die." "Better to die bravely than to die a coward." The argument between the two sides of her mind continued for a while as she stood in the clearing surrounded by the creatures she had just killed. Eventually she decided she would go on and do what she could and if it got too much to handle she would return to the camp having done all she could. As she fought more battles in that cave she learned to target the shamans first with her firebolts and kill the smaller demons who often ran at the sight of one of their own dying after. For the zombies she'd run away from them as soon as they got too close and continue her barrage of firebolts.

This was already far beyond anything Kirara had ever faced before and the darkness of the cave made her fearful in itself. She could never be sure what it hid or when another demon or zombie would appear. Again she considered turning back and running from this. But she remembered her promise to Liene. She had given her word that she would try to get her sisters bow for her and she hadn't yet found it. She didn't want to disappoint the young Rogue so she continued on. Her foot hit something in the darkness and Kirara stopped fearing the worst.

Bending down to investigate what her foot had accidentally kicked she saw that it was a dead Rogue scout, which made her gasp in surprise. 'Is this Liene's sister?' she thought turning the body over to examine the bow the Rogue had. Discovering that the bow was broken didn't help matters, but after a few moments of considering Kirara was fairly certain it wasn't Liene's sisters bow. Breathing a sigh of relief since she hoped that the bow she was looking for would be in good repair she stood up and offered a sign of respect for the fallen warrior before continuing on her quest.

Soon she had reached the final chamber within the cave her confidence growing with each battle won she saw a zombie group where they had only been in groups of two at most there was six here. She stepped foward and attacked the closest one with her firebolts as she had with the others. "Well done little one, for getting this far." one of the zombies said facing her. "But now you face Corpsefire!" The zombie who had spoken rallied the remaining four of of his minions and sent them all to attack her. Kirara could feel her spiritual energy or mana drainging from her as she cast firebolt after firebolt to kill these minions. They had gotten close to her but her hit and run tactic that she had developed served her well.

Corpsefire walked much faster than the others had and hit her side with his fists before she could recover from her fatigue after fighting his minions. The blow opened a serious wound in her side leaving her bleeding there on the floor in front of her toughest enemy. She rolled awat from the powerful zombie and released a barrage of firebolts against him the slow corspefire being hit by every single one. The force of the firey blasts made even Corspefire stumble backwards giving Kirara a little space. That had to have killed him for she didn't know if she could do anymore. When the blinding light from the firebolts faded Corpsefire was still standing if only barely, burning flesh hanging from his body..Corspefire started to walk again towards Kirara who knew that her hit and tun tactic wouldn't work now she was wounded her wound slowing her too much too run fast enough to escape the deadly corpsefire. She also knew she couldn't afford to get hit again.

"It's over." Corpsefire said as he made the last few steps to reach the prone Kirara who was still weak from her previous wound while he hadn't even been slowed by his wounds which were far more severe. His burned flesh was hanging off his body such wounds would have killed any living creature. Kirara had just one chance. She summoned her powers to release a small blast of cold, a difficult feat for a wounded sorceress whopse speciality was fire. She prayed for the power to cast this one last spell. Her prayers were answered and she targetted the zombie once more. The ice bolt struck corpsefire shrouding him in chilling cold slowing his movements. He attacked Kirara once more with his fists, but the attack had already been slowed by the chilling effects of kiraras magic. The blow struck the cold earth plowing it up, a testament to Corspefires power. In a second he was ready to strike again, but Kirara swung her staff blindly striking his head decapitating him. With that Corspefire fell dead to the ground.

Kirara exhausted by the battle reached into her belt to find a small vial of red liquid. A healing elixer. She bit off the cork that prevented the contents from spilling and quickly drank the potion immediately feeling a searing pain on her side where she had been hit by Corspefire. She looked at the wound and saw that the fast action of the potion was closing the wound completely. She just lay there for a while resting, recuperating when she remembered Liene's request. She searched the chamber and found another corpse lying in the darkness. Hoping that this was Liene's sister so she could get out of this cave Kirara investigated the bow the Rogue had. This time Kirara was certain that the bow belonged to Liene's sister remembering the distinct markings that she had seen. They were repeated on this bow, which made her sure. Smiling widely she picked the bow up and prayed for Liene's sister. Then she turned back towards the entrance to the cave and made her way out, relieved to have completed her quest successfully and still be safe.

When she was out of the cave she noticed the zomvies she had escaped earlier still roaming around and felt a knot form in her stomach. The battle with corpsefire had depleted her reserves of mana and although she was slowly regaining her energy she wasn't sure she could fight them off even if she needed to. She decided to try to do what she had done before. Using the boulders as cover she managed to run past the zombies without them noticing this time much to her relief. Now the way to the camp was clear and she walked towards it glad to finally be safe again.

She walked in the gate past the guards to the campfire and looked around the camp, but she couldn't see Liene anywhere. 'She must be in her tent.' Kirara thought turning to walk towards Akara's tent to tell the news of her victory.

"Thank the sightless God you have have returned child." Akara said as Kirara entered her tent. "Tell me what happened out there."

"I found the cave you spoke of without much difficulty and it was just as you had feared. There was a small army holed up in there led by a Zombie who called himself Corpsefire. I managed to defeat him,"

"Thank you. For now our camp is safe." Akara said smiling. "Let us celebrate this victory tonight."

The campfire in the centre of the camp was burning twice as large as it had before and drinks were flowing freely that night. The first thing Kirara did was to give Liene the bow she had retrieved when she found her amongst the celebrating Rogues. In fact she hadn;'t been hard to find since she was lecturing everyone else about how they should attack the demons.

"We should all attack the demonic forces that have foced us out here." she said loudly. "We can't just allow others to save us!"

Kirara approached siletly with the bow in her hands. "Here." she said. "is the bow you asked me to retrieve for you."

Liene's eyes went misty, but she quickly clinked away the tears. "Thankyou, thankyou so much for doing this for me. You don't know how much this means to me." she said and gave her a long hug which was when Liene started crying. Releasing Kirara and rubbing her eyes Liene managed to give Kirara a smile. "Now I owe you a debt of gratitude."

Kirara smiled, "Don't worry about paying me back. I have my own sister so i can understand how important this was to you."

"Thanks again." Liene said smiling. "Come this is your victory. Celebrate with us."

The celebration was a special occasion for both the Rogues and Kirara herself since she was at the centre of attention for alot of the time. She smiled glad that she had earned the trust of these people and wanting to do whatever she could to help them in the future. For now however, she was content to enjoy herself. Even with her happiness there was an element of regret. She wished that her family could share in this victory with her, but her mother and sister were at home way too far away to share this experience with her and her father. She didn't know where he was.

The dancing campfire blazing stronger than it had the other day reminded her of his words. ""Calm down. Both a painting and the changing forms of a fire are beautiful in their own different ways." Kirara gazed into the campfire and thought she saw her fathers face within the flames. It was only for an instant before the dance of the flames changed their shape again, but she was certain he had been smiling. The thought made Kirara's face brighten up into a huge smile. She felt like he was there with her celebrating her voctory. Her first voictory for the Rogues.

Eventually the celebration began to die down and the Rogues started heading back to their tents tired after a night of celebration. Liene found Kirara sitting by the fire looking into it as it began its final dance of the night.

"What are you thinking?" Liene said noting Kirara's thoughtful expression.

"Just about my father." Kirara said still staring into the fire.

"What was he like?"

"He was the best father in the world." Kirara said smiling and turned to look at Liene,. "He was patient and kind, never expecting me to do any more than my best as he trained me in the magical arts. He taught me first how to use magic generally, how to focus my mind and draw from my own spiritual energy and to increase that energy. Then he taught me about the elements and how to use them. Fire, lightning and cold could all be used to great effect if you knew how to use them. When he went off to fight against this great evil he explained that it was something he just had to do and that he would be back when he had accomplished his task. I just knew he would succeed so i waited patiently for his return, but he didn't come back no matter how long i waited." A tear formed in Kirara's eyeand she blinked it away.

"Wow. He sounds cool." Liene said smiling."I hope he's okay."

"Me too." Kirara said sadly as the fire slowly died. "We should sleep now. We'll be refreshed when we wake in the morning. Good night"

"Good night."

Kirara walked slowly back to her tent seeking out her bed. She lay down and closed her eyes and soon she was sound asleep.

Liene lay in her bed awake thinking about what had transpired already. How she had trained with her sister with the bow.

"Is this how you do it?"

"Yeah, you've got it, sis." Liene said happily. "Now aim at that target over there and see if you can hit it."

"Okay."

The arrow flew towards its target but missed by about 4 inches.

"Not bad." Liene said smiling "You're improving every day."

"But you're way better at this than I am!"

"That's because I've trained for longer. I was worse than you when i was first training." Liene laughed.

"Really?"

"Yep, really."

A tear formed in Liene's eyes as she looked again at the bow her sister had used. 'Why did it have to be you who died in that cave?' she thought, 'I should have gone in there. Not you!' Liene's tears couldn't be stopped and ran down her face as she remembered her sisters face as she went out to do her scouting duties in the cave for Kashya. 'Why didn't you send me instead of her, Kashya?' Liene thought angrily. She knew it wasn't Kashya, leader of the Rogue warriors in battle that was to blame, but she couldn't help feeling angry at her regardless.

Then she remembered Kashya had had to face her own loss. That of Raven the former leader of the Rogue warriors and a much stronger kinder woman than Kashya herself. She remembered when Kashya had first heared of the news that Raven had most likely fallen to the demons. Liene knew that Kashya had always regretted leaving her behind even though it had been a direct order. Raven had done what she could to stop the tide of evil from overwhelming everyone and it was due to her efforts that the Rogues had survived even though their numbers had been severely depleted.

Soon Liene closed her eyes and slept, more soundly than she had been able to for many nights. Liene wasn't the only one. Everyone was able to rest easier than they had for many nights.


	2. Chapter 2 Blood Raven

Luinith Ngarmo: Thanks for the review. Here's chapter 2. I was actaully worried that my chapters were too long and wondered whether i should shorten them and have more chapters or keep it the way it is. I've never written for an audience before so this is a new experience for me. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

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Chapter 2 - Blood Raven 

It was morning, but the dark clouds let in only a small amount of sunlight as they loomed overhead threatening to start a new downpour. The clouds seemed to concentrate over the area where the Monastary graveyard was and where many of the greatest Rogue warriors lay. Kashya leader of the rogue warriors in battle had already awoke and stood at the walls of the encampment looking out noticing the veil of darkness the clouds produced over the graveyard.

"Kashya, you're thinking of Raven aren't you?" Paige said.

"Yes," Kashya said sadly, "I know that what she did was neccessary, but I can't help feeling that there might have been another way."

"We all lost many friends that day." Paige said, "But Raven was our greatest leader."

"She was more than that." Kashya said. "She was our friend and our sister."

"I was sure she could defeat those demons and come after us."

Kashya nodded. "I felt the same way and she had many of our elite warriors by her side, but fighting inside the Monastary is difficult for archers so they had a disadvantage. I'll always remember how she ordered us to retreat out into the wilderness and away from the vile demons while she remained behind fighting against an overwhelming number of them."

"She did delay them long enough for us to escape at least. We owe her our lives."

"Yet without Akara many of us wouldn't have come together. She was the one everyone came here for and she led us in Ravens absence, not I."

"Raven chose you to lead us."

"Akara and Raven were always the leaders everyone followed. Akara for her knowledge and wisdom and Raven for her outstanding leadership capabilities."

"I know you have done your best in Ravens stead and the others respect you."

"It's difficult to stay strong especially in this time when many of our sisters have fallen and the Monastary has been overrun by demons."

"With luck we will be able to defeat Andariel and reclaim the Monastary."

"Liene always argues that we should attack rather than just stay here and wait for death to come to us and I wonder what Raven would do. Would she just conserve our strength or strike at the Monastary itself?"

"You know how difficult it is to take the Monastary from the outside better than any of us." Paige said. "It would be suicide."

"I know." Kashya replied. "It's just that in some ways Liene reminds me of Raven when she was younger. She was never satisfied by merely standing at the walls defending the Monastary. She always called us into action attacking those who retreated from the Monastary walls including Battle Maiden Serinna the traitor."

"I remember her." Paige said. "She was a master at melee combat."

"I'm fed up of following your leadership!" Serinna said angrily drawing her hand axe and swinging it at Raven who jumped out of the way.

"Why?" Raven asked watching the other Rogue closely.

"I should be the leader of the Rogue warriors!"

"Then let's duel and the winner will become the leader." Raven said drawing her bow and notching an arrow.

"Fine!" Serinna said. "I will kill you when I win!"

Raven quickly fired the arrow at Serinna and notched another. The arrow was targetted to do the maximum amount of damage without killing her. Ravens goal was to disable Serinna and force her to stop fighting rather than to kill her. Serinna blocked the arrow with her shield easily and it clatterred to the floor. The force of the blow would have been enough to make any other Rogue stumble, but Serinna's strength was unprecadented in the ranks of the Rogues and she stood firm. "You'll have to do better than that, oh great leader!" she said grinning as she charged forward towards Raven axe in one hand shield in the other her eyes fixed on Ravens bow watching for the next attack.

Raven stayed silent concentrating and in a hearbeat had notched another arrow and sent it flying towards Serinna. This time the arrow exploded on impact with Serinna's shield and forced her to stop charging for a second. The attack had done some minor damage, but it was really nothing she couldn't handle. What the attack had done was remind Serinna of Ravens prowess with the bow. A direct charge had never worked against her in the past even with a shield to deflect the arrows as they came, which was a skill Serinna had mastered so she changed her tactics. She rolled under Ravens next arrow as it came towards her and swung at Raven with her axe.

Raven drew her short sword with lightning speed and used it to block the attack and Serinna felt an arrow hit her in the back causing her to cry out in pain. "Clever," Serinna said. "A guided arrow." The brief time which the successful attack gave Raven was enough for her to escape from melee combat and notch another arrow into her bow. She fired it and it hit just where Raven had wanted. In Serinna's shield arm making her drop the shield. This only managed to anger Serinna even more and she charged again brandishing her axe. This time Raven used her magic to make the arrow split into several bolts each one impacting Serinna at different critical points disabling her movements and making her fall to the ground.

"Damn!" Serinna said angrily. "You win."

"It would have been wise to surrender when you lost your shield instead of blindly charging at me." Raven said. "You need to anticipate your opponents moves more and prepare for them before they attack."

"That's why you used a guided arrow."

"Yes." Raven said. "Since you tried to kill me you are to leave here and never return."

"Why don't you kill me? I will always be your enemy."

"I don't believe in taking a life unless it is absolutely neccessary."

"How kind of you." Serinna said scornfully.

"That duel between Raven and Serinna taught all of us alot about how to fight when she told us of it." Paige said. "Had Raven not used a guided arrow at that point she would have been at a disadvantage."

"Even so Raven's prowess in melee combat was second only to Serinnas." Kashya replied. "Regardless we need to scout out the area to discover what the demons movements are now that the cave has been cleared. Get the others."

"Yes, of course."

Paige went to a few tents to awaken some of the sleeping Rogues and returned to where Kashya was at the wall with a group of ten.

"Warriors, you are to scout out the nearby area and find out what you can about the demons movements. May the great eye watch over you all."

"Yes sir!"" the rogue warriors replied leaving the camp to explore the wilderness as they had done so many times before.

When the scouting party returned it was about mid-day. The scouts leader quickly went to kashya's tent and entered. "I have bad news." she said.

"What is it?" Kashya replied.

At the scouts reply Kashya's face went pale and headed towards Akara's tent straight away.Moments later she left Akara's tent and walked towards the tent that Kirara was staying in. As she entered she spoke. "Come with me."

"Okay." Kirara said. She was a little scared of this woman. She was the one who she had seen before Akara had requested her aid.

The two women headed towards Akara's tent once more not speaking to each other as they approached the tent. It was Akara who spoke next. "Greetings child. I'm afraid i have another burden i must lay upon your shoulders."

"No, i can't fight these demons! They're too strong for me!"

"I know child, but you're the only hope we have." Akara said sadly."Kashya, tell her what we have just learned."

"My rogue scouts have just imformed me that Raven, leader of the rogue warriors before me and my closest friend is not at peace." Kashya said her whole body shaking as she suppressed her emotions. After a moment she continued. "Now, as Blood Raven, she has been raised from the dead to serve the infernal masters of hell and she has been raising our dead and forcing them to aid her. It seems that not only do we have to defeat the demonic army that originally assaulted our monastary, but we have to kill our own as well." Kashya's whole body trembled her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"You were close to her weren't you?" Akara said.

Kashya merely nodded afraid that if she openied her mouth to speak then she wouldn't be able to suppress the sobs that would betray her grief. When Raven had died, Kashya had been the most affected, but at least she had the assurance that her closest friend was at peace in heaven. Now, she knew that even that had been stolen away from the leader Kashya had always looked up to and loved.

Akara turned to Kirara. "I know how hard it is for you to go out there and battle the evil that has come to this land, but we need you."

"Please." Kashya said. "Give her rest."

Kirara nodded. It was hard for her to see another so filled with grief and she could see that that Akara was also saddened by the news, but as the rogues high preistess she had to be strong even in the face of these terrible times. The graveyard is where Blood Raven is rasing our dead and it is here." Akara said pointing to a location on one of the maps that lay across her table.

Kirara walked accross the wilderness careful of any demons she might face on her way to the graveyard, but she only saw a few roaming fallen and zombies, which she avoided easily. As she neared the cave she had cleared she noticed that it was much quieter here than it was before. Satisfied that she had really struck a blow against the demons in her last mission she continued on. It might just have been her imagination but she was sure that she heard footsteps behind her. This made her walk faster, but she didn't turn around afraid of what she might see. As she walked on towards her destination she saw a lone figure carrying a bow and facing away from her. 'A Rogue here?' Kirara thought. She decided to be cautious and prepared her magic for a fight. The warrior turned around as Kirara approached closer.

"Turn back. There is nothing but death that awaits you beyond here!" said the Rogue.

"I have been sent by Kashya to destroy Blood Raven." Kirara replied.

"Who are you?"

"I am Kirara of the Zann Esu."

"I am Flavie. I advise you to walk from here with your weapons unsheathed and your magic ready for your enemies will not hesitate to attack you. Your name is spoken with hatred by the demons for you slew Corpsefire, the leader of Blood Ravens undead army. Beyond here our fallen brethren have been raised to aid the demons. If you need to retreat seek the waypoint just East of here. It will take you back to the encampment by ancient magics. Good luck."

It wasn't long before Kirara faced new enemies. A group of four pale skinned women came charging at them from their left and Kirara's first instinct was to run from them, but she remembered what she was here to do. She steeled herself and faced the new enemies. The women had jet black hair and were nearly naked their breasts bouncing obscenely in what little clothing covered them. In their hands they carried hand axes or scimitars and small shields, not the bows the rogues were masters of. That at least gave Kirara some advantage as she cast icebolts which slowed the warriors movements. She cast a firebolt at the one closest to her to finish her and as the corrupt Rogue fell screaming to the ground Kirara thought she saw a mist rising from the body of the Rogue, but she couldn't be certain.

Kirara cast her magic firebolts and icebolts in quick succession until there was just one last warrior standing. She cast a firebolt to finish the corrupt Rogue off and watched closely to see the mist that she thought she had seen before. Kirara thought she could see a womans figure rising from the corpse its face etched with relief as it drifted upwards towards the heavens. This made Kirara smile as she knew that these Rogues at least would now be able to find true rest and reward in heaven.

As she moved onwards she heard the footsteps approaching from behind her again. "Kirara, please allow me to accompany you on your quest." Kirara turned and saw Liene walking towards her bow at the ready. "I want to help defeat the evil here."

"Do the others know you're here?"

No," Liene said looking down with a guilty look on her face. "I snuck out of the camp without telling anyone, because i knew they just wouldn't let me come with you."

"What did Flavie say?"

"I avoided her too."

Kirara smiled. "We'll be going up against Blood Ravem. Are you sure you want to fight with me?"

"Yes!" Liene said adamantly. "Anything is better than just staying at the camp walls and shooting the odd demon."

Kirara wondered if Liene would really want to do battle with Blood Raven if she knew how difficult real battles were. She herself had douibts about this task. She wasn't certain she could fight such a strong oppoonent, but she also knew she was the only one who the Rogues could ask for help, but Liene wasn't obligated to be involved in this battle at all. Looking into the young warriors eyes she saw the determination in her eyes. Liene wouldn't back down and would insist n being allowed to fight. 'Who knows' Kirara thought, 'I might need her in this coming battle.'

"Okay you can fight with me." Kirara said smiling.

"Yay!" Liene said her face breaking into a smile. "Maybe I'll even save your life?"

"Maybe."

Liene's prowess with the bow was quickly established as they ran into a group of red skinned demons. One shot, one kill as Liene targetted the critical areas of the demons anatomy ensuring a quick death for them. Kirara's magic worked wonders against them as well the icebolts sometimes freezing the little creatures and breaking them into shards of ice ensuring that any shamans nearby would not be able to raise them again. "Welcome warriors!" one of the shamans behind a wall of fallen said. "I am Bishibosh and I will ensure you die here!"

"Another of Blood Ravens minions?" Kirara said.

"Probably." Liene replied.

The shaman cast a fireball over the heads of his minions on a direct course for Kirara who dodged the attack.

More fireballs came towards the two women from different angles and they saw that Bishibosh was smiling.

"There's more shamans around us." Kirara said looking around.

"Correct." Bishibosh taunted. "You are surrounded. Surrender now and I may let you live."

"As if we can believe in you demons!" Liene said.

Quickly Kirara cast a number of firebolts at Bishibosh in an attempt to kill him. The shaman didn't even attempt to dodge the bolts of fire and let them all strike him. They seemed to have no effect on him at all. "I must have forgotten to tell you. Fire cannot hurt me for i am a master of it.!" he said before casting another fireball at Kirara. Simultationeously the other shamans cast there own fireballs at her.

"I guess we can't fight fire with fire." Kirara said.

"More importantly we can't allow those little demons to surround us. I dont know about you but Rogue's aren't usually the best melee fighters."

With a single wave of his hand Bishibosh ordered the fallen to advance towards the two heroes. "Too bad you won't live long enough to even see Blood Raven warriors. This will be where you are laid to rest!" As they advanced they quickly closed the gaps between them that there had been efectively surounding the heros.

"What should we do?" Liene asked.

"We need to create a hole in the fallens ranks which we can escape through." Kirara replied looking around. "There, the fallen are fewest in that area. Concentrate your fire there and be ready to run through when it's clear."

"Okay."

Another wave of fireballs were cast at them as they started firing everything they had at the fallen. One of the fireballs hit Liene who cried out in pain. Dodging several attacks at once while concentrating on attacking a certain area was a difficult challenge for Liene. It was an advanced skill in her training and one she hadn't completely mastered yet. Steeling herself she fired arrow after arrow as the fallen approached closer. Some of them were raised from the dead by the shamans, but most lay dead on the ground. The more the shamans used their magic to raise their fallen brethren the less they cast fireballs so the heros could effectively kill more.

"Are you alright?" Kirara asked.

"Yes." Liene said not wishing to talk too much in the heat of battle.

"Now!" Kirara shouted as she ran forward towards the hole in the fallen that they had created.

Liene ran towards the hole too and they barely were able to escape before the hole was closed again, but now at least they were outside of the circle of fallen.

"Clever." Bishibosh said. "I can see how you managed to defeat Corpsefire, but I'm not so easy." With another wave of his hand he ordered the fallen to attack once more and the other shamans to raise the fallen while he cast fireball after fireball.

"We need to kill the shamans!" Kirara said casting firebolts at one killing it with the third bolt.

"Okay." Liene said and targetted another shaman.

The shaman that Kirara had just killed picked itself up again and stood up.

"What?" Kirara said in disbelief.

"I am sorry for forgetting to tell you I can raise shamans as well as fallen." Bishibosh said sarcastically. "Are you ready to give up now?"

Kirara considered her options. Killing the fallen or shamans seemed to be futile, but her firebolts had no effect on Bishibosh himself. Icebolts might work but they were sloower moving than firebolts and were easier to dodge. That hadn't been a problem against Corpsefire since he had been so slow to begin with. Killing the shamans reduced the rate they could raise the fallen but only temporarily as Bishibosh would raise the shamans they had just slain. Kirara then rememebered the last quality of icebolts. They sometimes shattered their targets into shards of ice, which prevented ressurection. Killing the fallen in that way would be inefficient however as there was more of them than Kirara could effectively handle. The answer then was to use her icebolts to shatter the shamans so Bishibosh couldn't raise them and let Liene deal with the fallen.

"Liene, target the fallen and I'll target the shamans."

Liene nodded. "Sure."

"Haven't i already told you that you cannot win?" Bishibosh taunted casting another fireball at Kirara.

She cast a number of icebolts at the closest shaman making it shatter into shards of ice. "One down. Five to go." Kirara said.

This just infuriated Bishibosh who ordered all the shamans to target her with their fireballs instead of raising the fallen. As her icebolts hit the second one Kirara saw that the casting rate wasn't slowed by the bolts of ice but their physical movement was, which made it easier to hit with multiple icebolts after the first. Soon Bishibosh was standing alone against Liene and Kirara. "Blood Raven will destroy you both for this!"

As soon as the first icebolt hit Bishibosh's movements were slowed enough so that he couldn't dodge any more and he fell quickly to Liene and Kirara's attacks

"And so, another of Blood Ravens minions falls." Kirara said. "Are you still sure you want to fight Blood Raven?"

"Yes." Liene replied. "We'll have a better chance of defeating her if we fight together."

Kirara nodded. "Here. take this." she said as she handed a minor healing potion to Liene. "It will heal your wound."

"Thankyou." Liene said taking it and drinking the contents of the vial. Her wound was healed, but they were both tired after the battle so they sat down and rested for a few moments.

"The undead never sleep so we're unlikely to gain the element of surprise in the battle with Blood Raven." Liene said getting up. "And I don't need to tell you she is skilled with the bow so that is the weapon she will most likely use."

Kirara nodded. "I understand."

"We can use these to help us in the battle." Liene said prodcing some potions which had orange liquid inside them. "They are throwing potions which explode on impact. I also have a few poison throwing potions if the situation gets desperate, but poison will be largely ineffective against the undead."

"Okay, thanks."

"I'm a little afraid." Kirara said. "We've managed to survive so far, but our opponents haven't been too strong. Our next adversary is Blood Raven and she is sure to be skilled and strong."

"She was the strongest of us in life." Liene replied. "And i hate the thought of going up against one of my sisters, but this was Kashya's order and I know how much she loved Raven. She is our enemy now and we need to do what we can to lay her to rest so she can finally know peace in heaven."

The two walked slowly and carfully into the cemetary walking towards the gate of the central area. The wind blew towards them from the graveyard and it brought the aroma of death, old and new. The smell of fresh blood combined with the dank odor of gravedirt and the sick smell of rotting corpses all made Kiraras stomach turn. As they looked around they saw many upturned graves that had once housed the rogue's honoured dead, now they were forced to serve hells masters. Kirara was able to sense the torture of these souls feeling every inch of exposed nerves, every movement caused even greater pain than they had ever faced in life. Their rewards in heaven or hell stolen from them by demonic magics death would be their only solace.

The sight of the Zombies saddened Liene greatly as she knew these had also been her sister Rogues. "We need to kill these Zombies too."

Kirara nodded "I can't stand to see these tortured souls sudffering like this."

"Our best strategy is to work as a team keeping the Zombies away from us and fighting Blood Raven the best we can from afar."

"I agree."

Liene let loose an arrow at one of the Zombies hitting it square in the chest and killing the abomination. That got their attention and the Zombies started shuffling towards the two women who entered the graveyard through a gap in the iron bars keeping their distance from the approaching horde. Kirara chose firebolts to deal with these Zombies and briefly remembered the visage of Corpsefire. She didn't want to have to face such an opponent again. The slow footspeed of the Zombies was a big advantage as they fell one by one.

As the last Zombie fell there was still no sign of Blood Raven. "Could Kashya's scouts have been mistaken?" Liene asked herself looking around for her former leader.

"I don't know." Kirara replied. "It is strange that she hasn't appeared yet even though we've killed her army."

They approached a large tree in the centre of the graveyard where they saw a number of rogues hanging from the branches eyes bulging their necks hanging too far to one side obviously broken. Kirara stared at them for a moment eyes wide in horror.

At that moment she heard something coming towards her quickly and she dodged it as quickly as she could, but that wasn't enough to completely evade the missle. It tore a gash in her side leaving her bleeding a little. Fortunutly the wound wasn't too deep and she could still move quickly if she needed to. The missle had come from her right so she turned that way to see a pale figure in crimson red clothing that hardly covered her body at all in a mockery of the rogues uniform in it's scantiness.

"Welcome mortals, to my sanctuary. You shall not leave here alive." came Blood Ravens powerful demonic voice as she took another javelin sized arrow from her quiver and trained it once again at Kirara's breast. Trying to ignore the pain from her side Kirara started running to the side to avoid Blood Ravens next attack. Blood Raven trained her bow not directly at Kirara but at the area where she was running towards and fired. Kirara almost ran into the flying arrow as the former Rogue leader planned, but stopped herself just in time.

Liene was quick to react and started firing her own arrows at Blood Raven. The former Rogue leader quickly moved out of the way of the incoming bolts and trained her bow on Liene notching another arrow and releasing it in the blink of an eye. The arrow was blazing with magical fire as it came towards Liene who dodged it and heard the arrow explode behind her in a brilliant flash of light. It didn't take much imagination to understand what would have happened had the arrow hit it's target and Liene trembled in fear.

While Blood Ravens attention was on Liene Kirara approached and invoked her cold magics to release a ring of frost all around her. Being hit by the frost nova Ravens movements were slowed. Without any hesitation Kirara invoked her powers to launch a powerful blast of ice at her opponents right arm causing a wound that would make it very difficult for Blood Raven to use her bow had she been alive. However, being dead had its advantages and Blood Raven notched an arrow enchanted with fire and loosed it at Kirara who dodged just in time to dsave her life, but the arrow burned a line in her leg making it difficult for her to move.

"It's been fun." Blood Raven said mockingly as she aimed another arrow at Kirara's heart, "but now you have the honour of joining my army. Your friend will be next and I'm sure Akara will be pleased to see you using your magic to freeze her to death." As she said this Liene fired arrows at her, but she ignored them seeking to finish off one opponent at a time. She drew back the bowstring ready to fire the arrow which would end Kirara's young life.

Liene quickly changed her tactics grasping the exploding potions she had prepared and threw them at the undead Rogue. The potions exploded into fireballs on impact causing major damage even against the undead body of their enemy. Blood Raven yelled out in pain and anger and turned to Liene. "So you want to be first?" she said menacingly. "I will grant you your wish fellow sister." Liene dodged the bolt as it flew towards her.

"You should know us Rogues have mastered the art of dodging ranged fire. Liene taunted.

"Let's see how well you fare in melee combat then." Blood Raven said and with a wave of her hand raised a large number of Zombies from the surrounding graves. "You didn't think the Zombies you killed before were the extent of my army did you? Now you're surrounded and your life will end soon."

Kirara picked herself up and drank one of her healing potions to heal the wounds she had suffered already in this battle. The scene was not looking good for the two heroes. Their enemy stood as if she hadn't been wounded at all with an army of Zombies slowly approaching from all sides.

"We need to work together to defeat her." Kirara said. "I'll slow her with my cold magic and you let loose all your power in your arrows."

"Okay." Liene said notching another arrow in her bow and enchanting it with fire in preparation wondering whether she should really do this. Blood Raven had once been a great leader to the Rogues, the greatest leader and she would be one of her killers, but then she reminded herself that Blood Raven was now their enemy, perhaps their greatest one and that the survival of the Rogues depended on Blood Ravens death.

Kirara launched another frost nova which hit Blood Raven doing minor damage, but slowing her down and dodged the retalitory arrow which soon flew towards her. Liene immediately started firing several bolts at the undead Rogue aiming at her heart. The arrows made a small edplosion on impact, certainly nothing like Blood Ravens attacks, but they did their job. Kirara lended her aid as she launched blasts of ice at the Rogue leader

As the last blast of ice impacted Blood Ravens corpulent bosom she fell back onto the ground, a loud moan escaping her lips. Streaks of lighting were released from her dying body to strike the many zombies in the cemetary one by one turning them to dust.. Kirara looked at Blood Ravens body and thought she could see a writhing female spirit struggling against unseen bonds. When the last of the bolts of lightning snaked out from the body the naked spirit was free at last and smiled gratefully at her saviors.as she drifted upwards towards heaven.

Liene saw the spirit of Raven too and smiled glad that she could finally find rest.

"We should head back to the encampment." Liene said. "Our work here is done."

"I agree." Kirara said. "We need to report our success to Kashya so she can finally know that Raven has found her rewards in heaven."

Liene nodded smiling. Their journey back to the Rogue encampment was uneventful since with the death of Blood Raven the demons had fled to darker places like caves where the darkness gave them strength. By the time the two heroes reached the camp it was almost night time.

"Let's go to Kashya's tent now. I'm sure she won't mind us disturbing her to give her the good news." Liene said. "Otherwise she might worry that Raven is still suffering."

"Good idea."

"Raven has finally found peace." Kirara said explaining what she had witnessed at the graveyard when Blood Raven had fallen into death.

"Thankyou." Kashya said relief flooding her face. "You cannot know what this means to me. You have earned my trust and the alliegance of the Rogues. Should you ever need help you can always take some of my warriors with you."

"Liene alone is enough and besides, knowing that so many Rogues have now found peace is already reward enough."

"I understand." Kashya said. "Liene is a fine warrior and she will serve you well."

"Wow, very few people can gain Kashya's respect like that." Liene said as they were leaving the tent.

"Are you okay with coming with me on my quests?" Kirara said.

"Yes, I've always wanted to get out of this camp and do something for my sisters." Liene replied.

"We should get some sleep tonight and see what more we can do tommorow morning."

"Okay, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

As Kirara lay in bed she thought of all she had done. She had done far more than she ever thought she would for these Rogues. When she first entered the camp her only thought was to search for her father and find him. She hadn't really expected to fight any demons or undead here, but she had already fought some tough battles with strong adversaries. First Corpsefire had given her taste of what real battle was. She remembered how scared she had been when she faced him. How much she had just wanted to run away. Maybe return home and forget about finding Kirandor. She considered that option for a few moments.

Had she been alone in the battle against Blood Raven she was certain she wouldn't have survived. She owed Liene her life and felt sure that the young Rogue must have been just as scared as she had been. She wouldn't soon forget the visage of Blood Raven standing above her aiming the arrow which would end her life. She wouldn't forget how much she had feared for her life during those moments and how grateful she had felt towards Liene when she saved her. Returning home wasn't really an option. Kirara wanted to find her father and now since Liene had saved her she owed her. She decided to continue helping the Rogues until she could leave for the East to continue her search. As she closed her eyes she imagined that her father was watching over her keeping her safe as he had done so many times during her childhood.

As she drifted off to sleep she began to wonder what kind of town Tristram had been since that was where Kirandor had left to go to. What were it's inhabitants like and what was life like in such a small village. As she thought about it she realised that it would be much like the encampment. Quiet most of the time with little really going on, but the townspeople would have known each other well since the community would be so small. 'I want to visit Tristram and see what it's like.' she thought to herself and decided to do just that tommorow hoping that she would get the chance to actually do it.


	3. Chapter 3 The Tree Of Inifus

Chapter 3 - The Tree Of Inifus

Morning came brightening the sky and the lands below as the sun shone brightly on to the wilderness. The bright light was a change from the mostly dark cloudy days that had come before and this gave the Rogues hope. This was the first time in several days that the sun had broken through the cloud cover and it transformed the landscape, brightening the once dull dark areas of the wildrerness and making it seem like a more friendly place. Kirara's victories had also given the Rogues hope for the future and as for herself, Kashya felt relieved that Raven was at last at peace.

Liene woke from her slumber and lay there for a while just thinking of what had already occured. She remembered the battles she had fought alongside Kirara and smiled content in knowing that she was helping her sisters and wondering what Kirara's next step would be. She rose after a few moments and walked out into the centre of the encampment where a few other Rogues were sitting eating breakfast. She briefly looked around for Kirara hoping she would see her, but didn't have any luck. Instead of sitting to eat as she would normally do she decided to see if Kirara was awake so she headed towards her tent.

"Hello?" Liene said quietly. "Are you awake?"

Kirara heard Liene's voice and sleepily replied. "I'm awake. Give me a few minutes."

"Okay."

"Thanks."

It didn't take too long for Kirara to get up. She was eager to go to Tristram and discover what the small village was like so she rubbed her eyes and got up fairly quickly. As she left the tent she was a little surprised at how bright the morning was, much brighter than the previous day.Her first thought was to go to Akara to find out how to get to Tristram because she was unsure as to where the small village was and Akara would be the person most likely to be able to tell her.

"Good morning." Liene said smiling."

"Good morning." Kirara replied.

"We should go to this tower i know of that has lots of treasure!"

"I didn't know there was a tower full of treasure near here."

"It's the perfect place to go before we attack the Monastary so we can get magical items that might help us on our quest."

"Okay we'll go there, but I want to go to Tristram to see what it's like."

"Okay, Akara will know where that is." Liene said, "Let's go to whichever one is closer first."

"That sounds good." Kirara said. "Let's go see Akara."

"Alright."

Akara was awake scanning the maps of the surrounding area when the two enetered her tent. "Hi, I want to know where Tristram is and how i can get to it." Kirara said. "We believe that the demonic forces are using Tristram as a base of operations, so it will be dangerous to go there." Akara said. "Why do you wish to go?"

"Well, my father, when he left us, said he was going to go to Tristram for something important and I want to go there to see if i can find any clues as to where he might have gone."

"I see, I pray that you can find some clue as to where he may be now in that place. Kashya's Rogue scouts have imformed me tha the demonic forces have set up a barrier, which will destroy any creature that still has a soul, around the town to prvent anyone from invading it. In this way it is secure from any outside attacks."

"Then we cannot enter?" Kirara asked sadly.

"There is but one entrance that we can use to enter the town, but we will need a certain scroll to use it to get to Tristram safely."

"You are speaking of the scroll of Inifus?"

"Yes, the scroll was created by a mage by the name of Inifus, who came here during the sin war to trap Diablo within a sacred soulstone. He was killed in the act and a tree grew in the spot where he was slain by the demon. The tree of Inifus, which should be around this area," Akara said pointing to an area far off from the encampment on the maps that lay across her table. "should hold the correct sequence to touch the Cairn Stones to safely open a portal to Tristram."

"Why have the demons not used this portal?" Liene asked "If they used it they could easily surround the encampment and destroy us."

"I believe that the portal will only allow beings which have souls to pass through. Like the demonic barrier which only allows creatures without souls to pass through, the portal only allows beings that have souls to pass through without being destroyed."

"Is it the same with the ancient waypoints?" Kirara asked.

"Yes, i believe so, though i cannot be certain." Akara replied.

"I know how to use the waypoint so we can cut our journey a little." Liene said.

"Okay show me." Kirara said.

Kirara and Liene walked out of Akara's tent after saying their goodbyes. "Over here." Liene said moving towards the stone tablet in the east side of the rogue camp. The tablet had a large circle engraved into it and in its centre was a large runic symbol. Around the circle were other smaller runic symbols. "Each of these runes corresponds to a certain place," Liene explained. The large rune in the centre corresponds to where we are the Rogue Encampment. The others correspond to waypoints that are scattered throughout this land." Liene moived to the centre of the waypoint gesturing for Kirara to follow. "When you wish to go somewhere you must touch the rune that corresponds to the place which you wish to go. It is unwise to touch any rune if you do not know where it will take you since once someone tried to do that and it is rumoured he appeared in a pool of bioling lava at the other side." With that explanation Liene touched one of the smaller runes. Instantly the heros were transported to an area where there were alot of stones and rocks strewn around a large field. Liene looked around before smiling.

"This is the furthest I can go until I know what runic symbol is on the waypoints further ahead than this. The trail from here leads to an underground passage, which is sure to be filled with demonic forces. We should be careful."

Kirara nodded noticing that dark clouds hung around this place blocking out the sun. Already she missed the bright warm light as she shivered in the cool darkness. "It's cold here, isn't it?" she said

"Yes, the darkness seems to follow the demonic forces whereever they are. I wonder if the weather itself is controlled by them?"

"From what we've seen already, it certainly seems that way."

Kirara remembered the sunny days when she would lie down and just stare up into the sky looking at the clouds as they hovered overhead.

"I vcan see a mans face in that one!" Kirara said excitedly. "It almost looks liek you daddy!"

"Yes, it is amazing what we can see in clouds." Kirandor said. "Do you see that mountain range over there in that could?"

"Um, kinda." Kirara replied uncertainly.

Kirandor laughed. "The imagination is an amazing gift. "What can you see in that one?"

"Um, I can see a dragon! Are dragons real daddy?"

"Yes, I believe they are, however, I have not seen one myself. Many try to hunt them down for the treasure they hoard."

"Why? Life is more importnant than money!"

"I agree, but sometimes people can be consumed by greed."

"That's so sad."

"Yes it is."

"Rakinishu!"

The war cry of the fallen group that had spotted them broke Kirara out of her reverie. The little creatures charged at them directly brandishing their swords. They did not even attempt to dodge s Liene started loosing arrows at them and soon Kirara was lending her aid in the form of firebolts. The small creatures fell quickly, but the heros knew from experience that there might be a shaman nearby. There was. Liene focused her spiritual power into one of her bolts and loosed it at the shaman. As it hit it made a small explosion destroying the shaman.

"Were you just thinking of your father?"

"Yes, I was just thinking of how I loved to look up at the clouds with him and use my imagination to discover different things within them.

"I used to do that with my sister too. We wondered if we'd be able to reach the sky with our arrows one day. We never succeeded but it was fun to try. Raven would act annoyed saying we should be training to hit a target instead of trying to hit the sky." Liene said giggling.

"What did you say then?"

"We said that the sky was a target and Raven would just smile. I think she recognised in us a part of her own childhood."

"Wow!" Kirara exclaimed. "I wish i could have met Raven before she..."

"Was corrupted by Andariel." Liene finished. "I know she fought her hardest to allow us to escape in that time of peril, but the odds were against her. The demons just kept coming and it's not easy to fight in such close quarters especially if your specialty is ranged combat."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Liene said smiling. "You helped me save her from her torment, remmber? She is now at rest and i have you to thank for that."

Kirara blushed a little. "I only did what anyone would do in my place."

"Regardless, thankyou." Liene said. "Anyway, we need to find the underground passage first."

"Okay."

Soon they came to a group of large stones standing upright and in the centre of these stones was a large group of fallen, this time with blue skin instead of red. "Why is their skin colour different?" Kirara asked Liene.

"I don't know." Liene answered. "They must be another race of fallen."

"Look over there." Kirara said pointing to one of the fallen. "That one looks stronger than the rest."

"Interesting." Liene said. "That one must be their leader."

Kirara prepared her magic to cast a spell at the leader of the fallen.

"No, don't do that." Liene said holding her arm in front of Kirara blocking her from using her magic on the demons. "Not yet. We should find the scroll of Inifus first and then attack them. Then we might have the element of surprise when we attack Tristram itself."

"Good idea." Let's continue our search for the underground passage then."

It took them about an hour to find the entrance to the passage fighting more fallen, undead, and demons as they searched. It was easy going as the two used the advantage they had by running away from their enemies and turning back to fight them some more always at range. Both were aware that in the underground passage space would be limited and they wouldn't be able to run indefinately. Kirara's frost novas and ice bolts slowed the stronger enemies and gave them even more time to kill their enemies.

As they entered the passage it took them a few moments to get used to the new darkness. It was almost pitch black so it would be very difficult to fight here. "I an hardly see my hand right in front of my face in this darkness." Liene said.

"There's just a little light up ahead." Kirara noticed. Perhaps it's the exit?"

"I don't think so. See how the light is flickering? I think it's just a chamber lit by torches."

As they moved forward they found that Liene was correct. The chamber ahead was lit by a small number of burning torches and a few undead archers were patrolling the area along with some deformed demons which looked almost like huge dogs than demons.

"What are those?" Kirara asked indicating the deformed demons.

"I don't know."

"What should we do?"

"If we can i think it would be wisest to sneak past them. They're comming this way."

The two heros hid in a crevice in the rock walls of the passage hopeing that they wouldn't be seen. Kirara held her breathe for fear that the demons would hear her as they moved within inches of their position. One of the demons stopped right by where the two had hidden and began sniffing around. This continued for a few moments in which Liene and Kirara were scared out of their wits with fear. Both tried to get further away tfrom the demon, but the rock walls prevented them from doing so. Fear tightened it's grip around their hearts making it harder to breathe quietly increasing their fear that they would be caught and in this position be unable to fight back effectively.

Eventually after what seemed like hours the demon stopped sniffing around and moved on with the undead and the other demons. "Quick!" Liene said getting out. "They'll be coming this way again soon." Kirara moved quickly to get up and run behind Liene to get past the lit chamber. They repeated this process several times, but in doing so managed to avoid many encounters that would certainly have led to fights, which they'd have little chance of winning because of the closed space. They did end up having to battle a few undead and fallen, but nothing too powerful.

"Now i know how Raven must have felt when she had to fight in the closed areas of the Monastary to ensure we could escape." Liene said. "I think this way leads to the exit."

When they finally got out of the underground passage both Kirara and Liene were relieved. The darkness formed by the cloud cover which seemed to follow the demons was present on this side of the passage as well so it didn't take long for Kirara and Liene to get used to the light."I don't want to go back through that passage again." Kirara said.

"We shouldn't have to." Liene replied. "There should be another waypoint around here somewhere."

"Let's find it."

When their eyes got used to the light the heros realised that they were in a forest where many trees stood forming a canopy of leaves overhead and making this area darker than the rest of the above ground places they had travelled through. "This should be where the tree of Inifus stands and i know a ritual to take it's bark so we can bring it back to Akara."

"Great, finding a tree in a forest." Kirara said, "This should be easy."

There were three different paths to choose from. One to the East, one to the West and one to the North. All three paths looked the same and seemed to continue for quite a way. Any of them could lead to the tree of Inifus or the waypoint.

"Let's try this way first." Liene said indicating the path to the East. As they continued they came to a clearing where a group of demons were by a small fire. These demons weren't the small fallen that littered the area either. They were large goat demons, half goat and half man. They walked upright as men on cloven hooves and their heads were those of goats. In their hands they weilded great heavy axes which they carried easily.

"We should probably avoid them." Kirara said queitly.

"Let's gop around them." Liene said and started walking through the trees surrounding the clearing careful to not be seen or make too much noise. Kirara followed wondering if it was really safe to do this. They managed to get around the clearing without anything happening though and the heroes breathed a sigh of relief. Further on in the trail they were following they came to another clearing this time vacant with a great stone tablet in the middle. It looked just like the one in the Rogue encampment. "This is it!" Liene said. "We can go back to the encampment if you need a rest now?"

"No, I'm fine." Kirara said.

"Okay. Liene said. "Looks like the trail ends here, so we'll have to go back the way we came and try another path. They circled around the clearing with the goatmen again and went West from the entrance to the underground passage. This time many fallen and undead archers assailed them as they traveled down the path. Fighting was difficult with the trees acting as cover for the demons and archers. They continued down the path for a long time coming to several clearings, but not once finding the tree of Inifus.

"Is it really possible to find this tree in a forest like this?" Kirara asked.

"We have no choice if we wish to go to Tristram. We still haven't searched the Northern path. Let's go back and try that one."

Kirara nodded her agreement and they started backtracking until they reached the entrance to the underground passage once more where they turned to go for the Northern path. As they travelled the path Kirara felt some kind of magic in the air. "We're approaching something magical, but i can't tell what." she said.

"Maybe it'ds the tree of Inifus?"

"Maybe."

The going was relatively easy this time with only a few fallen and undead to take care of. "Why is this way easier than the other one?" Kirara wondered.

"I don't know." said wondering the same thing herself. "Can you still feel the magical presence?"

"Yes, and it's getting stronger." Kirara said.

"Then we're probably getting closer." Liene said hopefully.

They soon reached a large clearing and there stood one tree at the northern edge that seemed to shine with spiiritual energies. The path continued east and west from the clearing. "We've found it!" Kirara exclaimed. "This is where the magic is coming from."

"Good, I'll perform the ritual on the tree so we can get the bark and get out of here before any demons come this way."

"Sounds like a good idea." Kirara said. "I'll protect you if demons do approach or at least I'll try."

Liene nodded then turned to the tree and started the ritual. For a few moments nothing happened, but just as they were breathing a sigh of relief that there wasn't any traps here an army of zombies rose from the ground around them and three of the trees woke and started moving slowly towards Liene. "Treemen!" Kirara exclaimed surprised. She quickly looked around and saw that she was surrounded and Liene was still doing the ritual. "Hurry!" Kirara said to Liene. She knew that she wouldn't be able to hold these enemies off for long and it would be a waste to have come here and not get the scroll they needed. Kirara launched a frost nova which slowed the movements of the enemies which were all around her and cast several firebolts at the treemen hoping to burn them to death. The firebolts didn't do enough to start a major fire in the treemen, but it was enough to make them change their target to her instead of Liene. They moved fast towrads her and slammed her with one of it's branches knocking her clean off her feet. As the treeman moved to attack again Kirara knew that she'd have difficulty evading it, but she had to try. She just managed to avoid the treemans wooded fist as it came down at her.

"BUL KATHOS!" The warcry came from Kirara's right as a muscular man with a ponytail of black hair on an otherwise bald head came charging in directly at the treeman smashing undead warriors out of the way in his approach. He swung a mace in one hand and an axe in the other. The blows hit the treeman with such force as to make the treeman stumble backwards and away from Kirara who picked herself up slowly. 'A barbarian.' she thought.

"I'll deal with the treemen, you deal with the undead." the barbarian ordered Kirara.

"Hmph!" Even with her disdain at being ordered around, Kirara knew that the undead would be a problem if they were not dealt with quickly. Thanks to her frost nova they hadn't been able to move quickly enough to reach Liene, but they were approaching and something needed to be done. Kirara quickly launched a flurry of firebolts at the Zombies. Unlike the fallen she had been able to destroy with just one firebolt each the Zombies took up to four or five bolts before they went down. Icebolts had a simalar effect, but they also slowed the Zombies movements. She knew it would drain her spiritual reserves, but she chose to use more of her energy to form large blasts of ice that would do more damage than the lowly icebolt and in additoion freeze these enemies in place. Unfortunutly the magical attack could target only one of the Zombies at a time so she prioritized her casting alternating between frost nova to slow all the zombies and ice blast to destroy them She noticed also that if the zombies were frozen they would always shatter into ice fragments when they were destroyed.

The barbarian was having trouble with facing all three of the treemen at once as he could only attack two of them at a time with his surprisingly fast double swing attack. The blows splintered the wood that made up the treemen and was causing some impressive damage and he was as agile as he was strong dodging the treemens attacks with relative ease. Barbarians were well known as masters of melee combat and it really showed here.

Once the Zombies had all fallen and Liene was relatively safe again as she continued the ritual, Kirara fell to her knees exhausted. She hadn't recieved any wounds during the battle, but her spiritual energy or mana was depleted. The barbarian had no such troubles yelling loudly before he swung one of his weapons. He was so loud that Kirara worried that they might be heard and demonic reinforcements would come to aid their own. Strong and agile he might have been, but the barbarian certainl;y lacked subtlety. He would definately not be the best person to bring on a stealth assassination mission.

However, his constant barrage of attacks broke the treemen their bodies crushed by the combined power of axe and mace. "HA! It's going to take more than a few treemen to beat me!" the barbarian shouted to nobody in particular. With that he turned to Kirara. "I am Wulfgar, the greatest warrior alive!" he said confidently. "Who are you?"

"I am Kirara of the Zann Esu." Kirara replied politely. "And that," Kirara said indicating Liene, "is Liene, a Rogue from these parts."

"You women will need a strong man like me to help you out."

"I've finished the ritual," Liene said, "We can now go to Akara so she can translate it."

"You'll need a bodyguard." Wulfgar said arrogantly.

"Okay, you can come with us." Kirara said. "This is Wulfgar,"

"I heard." Liene replied. "The greatest warrior alive right?" she said sarcastically.

"Yes, that's me!" Wulfgar said missing the sarcasm

"We'll need to go back to the waypoint."

"Okay, lead the way."

"I should go in front so you women won't get hurt!"

"Fine."

Kirara and Liene let Wulfgar get ahead of them on the path. "We don't need an arrogant barbarian helping us." Liene whispered.

"I understand how you feel," Kirara whispered. "But I'd rather have him as an ally than as an enemy, wouldn't you?"

"Point taken. A barbarian is a powerful enemy if angered."

They walked back towards the underground passage and once there they turned down the path where the waypoint was located.The journey to the waypoint was uneventful as the goatmen that had been in the clearing had already moved on. Seeing that Kirara and Liene were both relieved since Wulfgar would probably just charge straight in without regard for anything, but proving he was the best. Soon they reached the waypoint itself.

"Stand in the centre of the stone tablet." Liene said mostly to Wulfgar who was just standing in the clearing away from the waypoint.

"This thing?" Wulfgar asked as he walked onto it.

"Yes." Liene said as she touched the rune that would take them to the encampment half wishing they hadn't found this barbarian.

Instantly they arrived in the encampment and Liene and Kirara headed straight for Akaras tent.

"Where are you going, and where are we?" Wulfgar asked.

"We're just going to get this translated," Liene said holding out the bark from the tree of Inifus, "And this is the Rogue encampment. Don't worry, we are safe here."

"I want to go fight more enemies." Wulfgar said loudly.

"Later." Kirara said.

Wulfgar followed them into Akara's tent still brandishing his weapons. "We have managed to get the bark from the tree of Inifus." Liene said.

"It was easy!" Wulfgar said.

"Who is your new friends?" Akara asked.

"I am Wulfgar, the greatest warrior that has ever lived!"

"It looks like he is a barbarian." Akara noted. "Have you got the bark of the tree of Inifus so i can translate it?"

"Yes," Liene said as she handed it over to Akara. "Here."

"Thankyou. I will need some time to translate the runes on here." Akara said. "You can rest here while I work."

"Okay." I need some rest to recover anyway." Kirara said.

Each of the heros went to their own tents with the exception of Wulfgar who simply explored the camp. Kashya saw him and approached telling him that he could use one of the empty tents that there were around the camp. He decided after only a little while that he was bored and he would enter his tent to rest.

Meanwhile deep in the Monastary catacombs where it was darkest and most protected from the bright light of the sun sat Andariel the demon queen.

'The rogues have been making greater progress than I thought they would,' Andariel the maiden of Anguish thought as she felt the power being released at Blood Ravens death. The demon queen was quite something to look at. She was huge by human standards, 13 feet tall when standing. Red fur covered part of her body leaving her arms and legs bare. Most terrifying of all were large spider-leg like appendages ending in sharp bony points protruding from her back.

The doors to her throne room opened and one of her strongest minions, a green skeletal mage infused with the power of cold and poison entered. "Demon Queen, Blood Raven has fallen."

"What?" the demon queen shouted in surprise and rage. "Who defeated her?"

"Kirara, a mage from the Zann Esu who uses powerful cold magics."

"Thankyou, Bone Ash." Andariel replied.This Zann Esu woman was proving to be a problem.

"What will you do mistress?"

"It is time for the rogues to learn who is boss around here."

"You don't mean?"

"Yes, send Cold Crow to lead an attack on their encampment. Tell her to take the strongest of the undead rogues and to specifically target this Kirara."

Bone Ash bowed to his master, "I will do what you command,"

"Good, now go."

As Bone Ash left Andariel thought about him, how she had created him. In life he had been a great mage using powerful cold magics against her, much like Kirara was using now. He had come deep into the monastary weilding his magic, but when he finally came face to face with the demon queen the battle had been brief with the maiden of Anguish winning by simply closing in and attacking him at close range where he couldn't easily defend himself. The wounds he had inflicted on her had healed within a few days due to Andariels demonic powers of regeneration and the mage had been drafted into her own army infused with poisonous magical power. His mastery of the element of cold served him well in death as it had in life making him immune to the effects of any cold based magics.

Cold Crow was in the monastary cathedral when Bone Ash appeared. "What is it?" she asked angrily.

"You are to lead an attack on the rogue encampment. Blood Raven has failed in her duties."

"Hmm?" Cold Crow said. "You're ordering me around you worthless mage?" she drew her bow and noptched an arrow ready to fire it at the skeletal mage.

"The order comes from Andariel, our queen."

"And if i refuse?"

"You know the punishment for refusing our mistresses orders." Bone Ash said

"Indeed. Who scares our master so?"

"Kirara of Zann Esu defeated Blood Raven and Corpsefire."

"Intruiging." Cold Crow said smiling. "If I defeat this Kirara then I will have proven that I am stronger than Blood Raven. I will go, but not for you or Andariel. I want to see just how strong this Kirara is." With that she walked out of the cathedral confidently.

While Blood Raven had mastered the art of enchanting her arrows with fire, Cold Crow had mastered the art of enchanting them with cold. And as such her training had made her resistant to frigid magical attacks. In short she was the perfect choice against a sorceress who primarily used cold magic.

Cold Crow moved through the ranks of Andariels strongest minions smiling. She wouldn't need any of them to destroy this Sorceress that had been causing so much trouble. Soon she had come to the great gates of the Monastary and opened them. "Follow me!" she ordered the few Rogue warriors she had chosen to come with her. These were all her elite troops each having a simalar ability to her. The ability to enchant their arrows with cold. With this small task force Cold Crow walked through the wilderness towards where she knew the Rogue encampment stood. She picked most of her army from the underground passage as they had been largely untouched by Kirara and her friends.

She also picked the mighty goatmen to add melee fighting strength to her warparty. She witnessed many of the destroyed minions of Blood Raven as she traveled through the areas closest to the Monastary graveyard. 'Soon, Kirara of the Zann Esu, you will die along with all the members of the Rogue rebels that have aided you.' Cold Crow thought as she surveyed her army. 'At night, when most of them are asleep, we will attack with full force!' Several loud cheers from the fallen and their shamans were heard in reponse.

The largest strike against the Rogue encampment was soon to begin.

Kashya was the first to notice the incoming dark clouds that heralded a storm, but she didn't think of their true significance. The clouds were almost black as they approached slowly bklocking out the bright sunlight that everyone in the camp had enjoyed all day.

"Darn!" Kashya said, "I was enjoying the nice weather too."

"Hopefully this weather will pass soon." Paige said looking out toewwards the clouds.

"It looks like a storm is brewing." Kashya said frowning.

"I'll take the nightwatch tonight." Paige said smiling. "I'll stay out here and watch for any enemies, although with the work Kirara and Liene have done we probably don't need to worry about any more attacks."

"I agree. The death of Blood Raven has been a great victory for us and has thinned the enemies ranks close to the encampment."

"No doubt Blood Ravens position was to raise an army to attack us, but now that threat has been dealt with."

"Still, be on the lookout. I wouldn't put it past the demons to try to launch a small counterattack."

"Such an attack will likely lack any true organisation and thus should be easy to rout." Paige said, "However, I will alert you if i see anything."

"Good, we cannot be too careful."

"I understand."

Later that night Cold Crow began to lead her army closer and closer to the Rogue encampment being able to hide in the darkness and hoipefully gain the element of surprise in the coming attack. 'Their defenses are admirable.' she thought as she saw the wooden fort, 'But with the element of surprise we shall defeat them all.' The fallen were squabbling amongst themselves as they advanced, an annoying trait, but they were needed as cannon fodder for the initial charge to the walls and the shaman could raise them from the dead if need be. Cold Crow expected that they would all be dead before even a single one reached the walls of the encampment, but even so they would prevent the enemy from firing at the stronger troops that marched behind them.

The clouds overhead were oppressive and blocked out any moonlight making the wilderness particularly dark. A definate advantage for Cold Crow and her army. The plan was going perfectly.

A bright flash of light from the heavens erupted from the clouds overhead lighting the entire wilderness for but a moment and with the flash of lightning came the roar of thunder waking many of the Rogues that had been sleeping. Paige was the first to see the great warhost as it approached and the sight of it made her quiver in fear, however her Rogue training took over and she walked away from the walls to wake everyone up. "The enemy is approaching from the North East. We'll need every able bodied warrior on the walls."

Cold Crow smiled as she saw the Rogues scrambling towards the walls. They had lost the element of surprise, but that did not matter. The Rogues were outnumbered thirty to one so victory was almost certain.She did search for the Zann Esu woman she had heard so much about. Kirara wasn't it? But for now she wasn't anywhere to be found. 'Perhaps she's terrified of my army?' Cold Crow thought smiling.

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Sorry for the cliffhanger. :P I thought it would be an interesting change to stop my heros going on quests for a while and have the villians attack the rogue encampment itself since it seems a little pointless for the Rogues to stay in the camp defending it if it is never attacked. Lol! How do you like Wulfgar, Liene and Kirara so far? Read and Review if you have time, since everyone is probably busy.


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